The six Democrats who urged military servicemembers in a video not to comply with illegal orders notched a significant legal win when federal prosecutors failed to criminally indict them. Now they’re looking to gain political momentum and build their campaign war chests.
“We are not done,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Chrissy Houlahan at a press conference alongside fellow House members.
“We will continue to push back. The tide is turning and accountability is coming,” Colorado Rep. Jason Crow said in a video posted to social media.
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin said in a fundraising email: “They tried to indict me.”
The group of Democrats, including two senators and four House members with backgrounds in national security, came out swinging against President Donald Trump and the Justice Department Wednesday for what they said was an abuse of power and a threat against all Americans’ right to freedom of speech. In addition to a flurry of social media posts and two afternoon press conferences, several have been making the cable news rounds and scheduled appearances on high-profile late night TV shows — signs that they see political opportunity in Trump’s attacks and are hoping to bottle that clout.
“Democrats have limited power at the federal level right now and need to leverage every opportunity to capitalize on Trump’s overreach and lawlessness to raise the necessary funds to ensure we have a balance of power at the end of the midterms,” said Democratic strategist Adrienne Elrod. “It takes resources to get our message out, hold Trump to account, and win back seats, and I’m glad these members are seizing on this moment and fighting back.”
As Democrats sharpen their attacks against Trump heading into the midterms, his Justice Department’s unprecedented attempt to prosecute the Democratic lawmakers — most of whom represent crucial battleground states like Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania — has inadvertently elevated their profiles. And the Trump administration, by failing to secure an indictment after months of public sparring with the Democrats and threats from the president, has bolstered their credibility as bare-knuckle fighters who can take on Trump and win.
In this attention-driven political economy, Trump has given a valuable boost to a group of Democrats that includes some with an eye toward future leadership positions in the party – including for Slotkin and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who are often discussed as potential future presidential candidates.
“Trump has elevated them by his baseless attacks and his attempt to weaponize the judicial system against them that has flopped so hard,” said Democratic strategist Ian Russell. “That certainly has given them a platform – an even larger platform – as leaders who are focused on keeping our country safe, serving those who serve us, and so forth.”
The six members of Congress released a video on social media late last year urging military servicemembers to ignore illegal orders amid questions about the legality of the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats from Latin America. That quickly drew Trump’s ire and prompted the launch of an investigation into the group that they lambasted as politically motivated.
The Department of Justice’s failure to indict the Democrats gave them a new opportunity to draw attention.
“Today wasn’t just an embarrassing day for the Administration. It was another sad day for our country,” Slotkin posted on X Tuesday night, as the first reports circulated that a grand jury had rejected the attempt to indict her and five Democratic colleagues.
Slotkin has become one of the party’s most prominent voices as it seeks to chart a path out of the political wilderness. Seizing on the new political attention — which can be hard to come by in a Republican-controlled Washington — she sent a fundraising appeal the next morning, held a press conference, went on TV and sent a barrage of posts on X.
“The investigations kept coming when we were quiet. So, if it’s going to be bad when you’re quiet, you might as well go on offense and have this conversation publicly,” Slotkin said in an interview on MS Now.
The strategy reflects a broader dynamic for the Democratic Party: Trump’s actions often serve as their best fundraising tool. A POLITICO analysis of ActBlue data this week found that many of the party’s largest online fundraising spikes last year came after a Democrat stood up to — or was attacked by — Trump.
“Trump elevating them is the kind of thing that makes Democratic donors, strategists, activists, go, ‘Ah, I like what I see,’” said Russell, the Democratic strategist.
That dynamic has proven especially true for Kelly, who is also in a protracted public battle with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over the video. Hegseth initiated a review of Kelly’s public comments that could demote the Navy captain’s rank and reduce his retirement pay. Kelly has sued to halt the review.
Kelly has emerged as a top Democratic fundraiser, the POLITICO analysis found, dominating online fundraising for weeks after the Pentagon announced the investigation even though he’s not up for reelection this year.
Shortly before news broke Tuesday night that a grand jury had declined to charge the Democrats, the Arizona senator blasted out another fundraising appeal that nodded to his legal proceedings. “What we need from this team, right now, is the peace of mind that Mark has all the resources he’ll need to stay the course,” said one fundraising email signed by “Team Kelly” on Tuesday.
At least two of the House Democrats investigated by the Justice Department sent similar pleas for cash in recent weeks. Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) – who serves as one of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s recruitment co-chairs – asked supporters for $10 after detailing the federal inquiry opened into the video, and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) made clear in his own pitch that he would not “be intimidated by any harassment campaign.”
In addition to fundraising appeals and appearances on cable news shows, the House members — which also includes Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire — presented a unified front at a Wednesday press conference, casting the effort as political retribution.
“This was about Donald Trump trying to send a message, a message that if you dare step out of line, if you dare dissent and speak up and push back against his agenda, that you will be crushed,” Crow, the Colorado Democrat, said at the press conference.
Longtime Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson said the failed indictments — and broader message of retribution — gives lawmakers in his party a potent political argument: Democrats were right when they warned that Trump was going to use the justice system for his personal retribution.
“He proved they’re not the boy who cried wolf,” he said. “They’re the meteorologist who predicted the hurricane.”
Politics
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